The Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1954. Its website claims that Scientology has 1811 churches and missions in 129 countries (1997). In their published materials from 1991-2001, they boast 8 million members every year, yet claiming to add 500,000 new converts per year, and to be “the fastest growing church in the world today.”1
Obviously these numbers just do not match reality. Not only should their 8 million members have significantly increased with 500,000 converts per year, in a 1991 Scientology publication, Impact Issue 33, pg. 33, they state as a goal to “build a membership of 100,000 active members” in the International Association of Scientologists, which is the “official membership system adopted by the Church of Scientology.”

The Church of Scientology has one of the most notorious and controversial reputations of all contemporary cults. Probably no other contemporary group has earned more sustained criticism and incurred more legal actions from its inception until now.

For example, Time magazine ran a major cover story in its May 6, 1991 edition titled, “Scientology – The Cult of Greed.” In it the subheading read, “Ruined lives. Lost fortunes. Federal crimes. Scientology poses as a religion but is really a ruthless global scam – and aiming at the mainstream.”
In May 1980, Reader’s Digest senior editor Eugene Methvin wrote an article, “Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult. After Methvin became a target of Scientology’s policy of harassing critics, he followed with a sequel story, “Scientology: The Sickness Spreads.” He wrote, “Scientology is far more than mere religion. An analysis of sworn testimony and the findings of official tribunals in 12 nations, plus independent investigation, reveals it to be a multinational racket masquerading as a religion.”3
Christianity Today’s two part cover story of its November 1969 magazine was titled, “Scientology: Religion or Racket?” In it Christian writer Joseph Hopkins wrote, “Even if we assume complete honesty and sincerity on the part of its practitioners and promoters, Scientology must be viewed as a dangerous menacing cult psychologically, socially, physically, and spiritually.”4
From June 24-29, 1991, the Los Angeles Times ran a major six part award winning series exposing much of Scientology’s corruption, abuse, criminal activity, and secrets.
In court cases stemming from a 1977 FBI raid on Scientology’s headquarters, eleven of the church’s leaders, including the leader’s wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, were convicted of conspiracy and burglary and sentenced to federal prison.
The raid uncovered hard evidence of numerous plots and covert activities designed to intimidate and silence any opposition to Scientology including having planted spies and bugging devises in the IRS and Justice Department.5
The records also demonstrated that the church for the previous eight years, “perpetuated a conspiracy involving manufacturing and falsifying records to present to the IRS, burglarizing IRS offices and stealing government documents, and subverting government processes for unlawful purposes.”6
Books have been written by former high level Scientologists revealing the true nature of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the sordid inner workings of Scientology and its corruptness. A few of these are A Piece of Blue Sky by John Atack, L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. (the latter being Hubbard’s son), and The Scandal of Scientology by Paulette Cooper.
Other books have been written by journalists and biographers such as Scientology Inc. by Stewart LaMont, and L. Ron Hubbard: Bare-Faced Messiah by British biographer Russell Miller.
Former high level Scientologist, now Christian, Margery Wakefield sums up the experience of far too many former members, “What you have in Scientology is a complex, powerful, and effective machine for the complete control of a person through sophisticated mind control techniques, existing solely to enslave and exploit innocent people for the purpose of financial gain, and operating completely beyond the reach of any social controls because it happens to be masquerading as a religion.”7
The Internal Revenue Service of the United States only relatively recently recognized the Church of Scientology as a legitimate religious organization with a tax-exempt status after an intense 40 year battle. Many European governments including England, Germany, France, and Spain have continued to refuse such recognition.
Why is there such an intensity of controversy? Why do so many characterize Scientology as a dangerous, ruthless cult rather than as a bona-fide religion? What do they believe and do that generates such deception, destruction, and hostility? Is it because there is something innately evil about Scientology or is it as Scientology claims, only due to the specious claims of apostates, religious bigots, and members of the psychiatric community?Scientology’s Messiah
L. Ron Hubbard was born in 1911. Between 1950 and his death in 1986 Hubbard had transformed himself from a science fiction writer to a writer of Scientology’s sacred and infallible scriptures. His book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health foundational to Scientology, has sold almost 18 million copies according to the Church of Scientology.
The Church officially states that “Hubbard’s writings and lectures on the human spirit comprise the Scripture of the Scientology religion,” and “Hubbard is the sole source of the Scriptures,” and “he has no successor.”8 It is also important to note that Hubbard’s writings and directives are “to be left intact as issued” and “no one except LRH [Hubbard] may cancel his issues.”9
There is no doubt that L. Ron Hubbard was an extraordinary man with a number of abilities. He was able to build a multi-million dollar international empire and inspire the devotion of thousands of followers.
One of Hubbard’s abilities was to create an image of himself that was bigger than life, in fact, bigger than reality. Partly due to the created image of Hubbard, Scientologists have idolized and eulogized him to the place of almost god-like status.
In the world of Scientology, Hubbard is a true Renaissance man being one of the world’s most accomplished and admired authors, philosophers, artists, explorers, adventurers, war heroes, photographers, humanitarians, educators, administrators, researchers, musicians and cinematographers.10 But in the real world, investigations have produced the facts that have exposed the myths that Hubbard and Scientology have perpetuated.
The truth about Hubbard’s exaggerations, fantasy, and deceptions about his life began to surface through a dedicated upper echelon headquarters member, Gerald Armstrong. In 1980, Armstrong asked Hubbard permission to collect material in order to write his biography. Hubbard approved his request and by the end of 1981, Armstrong had accumulated a million pages of Hubbard’s archived material and was designated “Hubbard’s Personal Public Relations Office Researcher.”
But soon Armstrong discovered that Hubbard’s claims did not match the facts and that the “Organization had continuously lied about Hubbard’s past, his credentials, and his accomplishments.”11
At the end of 1981, Armstrong left Scientology. Soon after he was “declared” a “Suppressive Person,” guilty of “High Crimes and Suppressive Acts Against the Church.” Because he still had possession of these archives Armstrong knew that these decrees meant that he was targeted for a Scientology action called the Fair Game Policy which states that such person can be “tricked, cheated, lied to, sued, or destroyed.” So to protect himself, he copied about 10,000 pages of originals and deposited them with attorneys.12
Armstrong was sued by Scientology for those documents. After hearing the case, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Breckenridge ruled that Armstrong had been justified in keeping the documents for self protection and the testimonial evidence was overwhelming in finding for Armstrong. The decision was upheld through the California Supreme Court.
Judge Breckenridge had this to say in his finding concerning the outrageous assaults upon Armstrong and the evidence, “In addition to violating and abusing its own member’s civil rights, the organization over the years with its ‘Fair Game’ doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in the Church whom it perceives as enemies. The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder LRH. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background, and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egotism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile.”13

Scientology’s Evolution as Religion
L. Ron Hubbard wrote in a letter to his first of three wives in 1938 saying, “I have high hopes of smashing my name into history so violently that it will take legendary form.” He is also reported to have said at a science fiction writers convention in the late 40’s , “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.”25
Very shortly after that, Hubbard who had achieved some success as a science fiction writer, published an article involving his developing theories on how the human mind operates, called “Dianetics: the Evolution of Science,” in the May 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. In that same year the article was expanded into the book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
This book became the foundation on which Hubbard began to build an international empire, which has evolved from a handful of psychotherapy centers into one of the most aggressive and controversial cults in history.
At the time of Hubbard’s book Dianetics, America had a growing fascination with the new field of psychotherapy, and the book enjoyed good sales. Hubbard at the same time of his book, organized the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation. Dianetics which is supposedly derived from the Greek dia (through) and nous (soul), meaning what the soul is doing to the body through the mind, claims to be “a methodology which can help alleviate unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears and psychosomatic illnesses.”26
This did not begin as a religion. In fact in the introduction to the book Hubbard declared that he had invented a new “mental science.”
Later, even after he had incorporated Scientology into a church, he wrote in a official (Scripture) Hubbard Information Letter (12 April 1961), “Scientology auditing [counseling] is today the only validated psychotherapy in the world…Scientology is a precise science…The first science to put the cost of psychotherapy within the range of any persons pocketbook.” But the actual pocketbook “range” is between $200,00-$400,000 if one wants to progress to the higher levels.
Today Scientology describes itself as “an applied religious philosophy which contains workable answers to the problems people face in their lives. The subject matter of Scientology is all life. It contains practical means through which predictable improvement can be obtained in any area to which it is applied…By seeing man as essentially spiritual, Scientology follows a traditional view of man and his relationship to the universe. Scientology, however, is unique in that it contains practical means of enabling man to resolve his material concerns and so come to achieve his spiritual aspirations. In this regard Scientology is an improvement over any earlier practice in terms of what it can actually do to help man.”27
But many believe that Scientology’s long hard fought process to gain governmental recognition as a religion is only a pretense to gain tax exemption and other protections and privileges in order to accomplish their totalitarian goals. Hubbard wrote, “The World is ours – own it,” and “I don’t see that…democracy has done anything for Man but push him further into the mud…there is no more ethical group on this planet than ourselves…only the tigers survive. We’ll survive because we are tough and dedicated…We’d rather have you dead than incapable…We’re not playing some minor game in Scientology…the whole agonized future of this planet, every Man, Woman and child on it, and your own destiny for the next endless trillions of years depend on what you do now with and in Scientology. This is deadly serious activity.”28
Scientology claims that their church was founded in 1954. Something is seen of Hubbard’s actual motives in a letter he wrote from England to Scientology’s U.S. manager, Helen O’Brien on April 10, 1953. He explained that it was time to move from a medical image to a religious one, in order “to salvage his ailing organization, and, “to make a great deal of money.”29
Tax exemption status was granted in 1956 but then withdrawn in 1958 because of evidence that Hubbard was personally profiting significantly from the fees. Then began an almost 40 year struggle with the I.R.S. and other Federal agencies to gain religious status. This was complicated by a constant number of court actions by former members as well as civil and criminal convictions against Scientology.
The most scandalous of these was the evidence gathered in a massive F.B.I. raid on Scientology headquarters in 1977 which led to the conviction and prison terms of eleven of Scientology’s leaders, including Hubbard’s wife, Mary Sue. The evidence recovered numerous criminal activities including an eight year operation of “perpetuating a conspiracy involving manufacturing and falsifying records to the I.R.S. offices and stealing government documents, and subverting government processes for unlawful purposes.”30
Hubbard had organized a department called the Guardian Office in 1966, partly to “safeguard Scientology organizations because of the growing number of critics and disaffected and noisy ex members.” Hubbard had also begun to write a number of policies (Scriptures) which direct and justify very aggressive measures to try to silence critics and help advance Scientology.
For example, the F.B.I. raid also uncovered documents describing “Operation Freakout” which was carried out on ex-member Paulette Cooper who had written a book criticizing Scientology, The Scandal of Scientology. This operation carried out by Scientology operatives, involved tips to the government regarding a plan by Ms. Cooper to bomb an Arab embassy. They also stole stationary with her fingerprints, and typed a bomb threat to the members of Scientology. She had been indicted and later was acquitted after the raid.31 Scientology has a continued history of planting spies in “enemy” organizations. The seized records also demonstrated that in Scientology’s fierce battle with Clearwater Florida’s mayor Gabe Cazares, they planted a spy in Cazare’s office and later staged a fake hit and run accident to frame him.32 Scientology settled with Cazares by paying him an undisclosed amount.
Scientology today claims that the Guardian’s office was a renegade group within Scientology who were acting on their own without Hubbard’s knowledge. Yet the grand jury named Hubbard as an unindicted co-conspirator after he had fled the country, continuing to live in secret, probably off shore until his death. The doubtfulness of this claim is further compounded by the fact that some of Hubbard’s policies (Scripture) detail such activity as carried out by the Guardian office. as well as the testimonials of former members, and court findings concerning the continuation of similar activities.
But Scientology protracted fight with the I.R.S. to gain a tax-exempt religious status suddenly ended in 1993 when the I.R.S. surprisingly granted their exemption. Many people familiar with the history were very suspicious as the settlement was secret and sealed, and because the I.R.S. had just won a major case in the U.S. Appeals Court just one year before, upholding the I.R.S. position to refuse tax-exempt status to Scientology.
Fortunately a tax payers lobby group, Tax Analysts, prevailed in the District Court which ordered the IRS to release the settlement to the public. In the settlement, Scientology agreed to pay $12.5 million, and to drop over 2000 lawsuits it was involved in against the I.R.S. In return the I.R.S. agreed to drop its audits of 13 Scientology organizations and granted exemption to 114 Scientology related organizations. the records also documented that Scientology revenues between 1988-1992 totaled $1.1 billion.33
The editor of the St. Petersburg Times wrote that “it was sellout by an I.R.S. that has been accused of running roughshod over less threatening taxpayers.” The Wall St. Journal interviewed Robert Fink, a New York tax lawyer who reviewed the settlement, who said, “What the I.R.S. wanted was to buy peace from the Scientologist. You never see the I.R.S wanting to buy peace.”34
New York Times writer, Douglas Franz, also noted among other damaging revelation that, “Among the findings of the review by the New York Times, based on more than 30 interviews and thousands of pages of public and internal church records were these: Scientology lawyers hired private investigations to dig into the private lives of I.R.S. officials and to conduct surveillance operations to uncover potential vulnerabilities…also financed and organization of I.R.S. whistleblowers that attacked the agency publicly.35
The above actions are consistent with two of Hubbard’s directives or policies (scripture). They are, “Make enough threat or clamor to cause the enemy to quail…always find or manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace…Don’t ever defend. Always attack, ” and “Never agree to an investigation of Scientology. Only agree to an investigation of the attackers…Start investigating them promptly for felonies or worse using our own professionals.”36

Hubbard’s Religion
Today Scientology claims to be “an applied religious philosophy which recognizes that man is basically good and…provides exact principles and practical technology for improving spiritual awareness, self-confidence, intelligence, and ability. The word Scientology comes from the Latin word scio, meaning ‘know’ and the Greek work logos ‘the word or outward form by which the inward thought is expressed and made known’ Thus, Scientology means knowing about knowing.”37
Dianetics is a Scientology methodology used to “uncover the source of unwanted sensations and emotions, accidents, inquiries and psychosomatic illnesses, and sets forth effective handlings for these conditions.” Dianetics preceded Scientology and is distinct but inexorably part of it.38 Scientology claims to be a religious teaching which Hubbard discovered in his research of life which is grounded in Eastern religious traditions, especially in forms of Hinduism and Buddhism.39
Dr. Stephen Kent, sociology professor at the University of Alberta, has researched and published extensively on Scientology. He concludes that, “Hubbard had only a rudimentary, and largely inaccurate, understanding of major Eastern religious traditions – traditions about which he claimed similarities to the faith that he had constructed.” Kent points out that, “Hubbard’s attempts to define Scientology as a religion with similarities to Eastern faiths failed to convince the British courts that its religious claims were appropriate from a legal standpoint.”40
Kent concludes that Scientology is “a multifaceted transitional that has religion as only one of its many components. Other components include political aspirations, business ventures, cultural productions, pseudo-medical practices, pseudo-psychiatric claims and…a pseudo-family structure [the Sea Org.].41
Let us now examine the major components of the religious philosophy of Scientology. Scientology claims that man is an immortal spiritual being whose true nature is that of a Thetan. This true nature has unlimited god-like capacities. The Thetan has a mind and animates a body.
The Thetan’s experience extends well beyond a single lifetime and a persons goal through Scientology is to properly understand and use its technology (tech) to arrive at his innate god-like self.
The common new age tenets of gnosticism, reincarnation, and man’s own God-realization are recognizable in Scientology.
The upper levels of spiritual attainment are called Operating Thetan (OT). The OT is able to operate without depending on the physical universe and is “able to control matter, energy, space, and time, described with acronym MEST. One can then exteriorize (astral travel) and read minds.42
How does one achieve this alleged OT state? It takes a lot of money and time as well as a total surrender of mind and will to Scientology. Scientology claims to have no dogma and frequently expresses a relativistic axiom, “only those things which one finds true for himself, are true. In Scientology you learn to think for yourself.”43
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Scientology is probably the most dogmatic and totalistic of any religion. To continue to move forward in Scientology one must pay for ever more expensive courses as one travels up the Bridge of Scientology.
The Bridge consist of a series of steps called gradients. There are 10 gradients before one reaches Clear, and then there are 15 ascending levels of Operating Thetan (OT). Or, one can go up the Bridge on the Auditors Track which consists of 15 gradients, the last of which is called a Hubbard Class XII Auditor.
A common approach to recruitment into Scientology is to give a free personality test, which everyone fails. The Scientologist tells the potential convert that he could have serious problems but that Scientology has just the course to take care of it.
Scientology teaches the human mind is divided into two portions – the reactive mind, and the analytical mind. The reactive mind is roughly equivalent to what Freud postulated as the subconscious. Stored in the reactive mind are what Hubbard called engrams, which are supposedly negative or painful experiences that have occurred in the past – including past lives. Hubbard claims that three engrams are the source of irrational behaviors and psychosomatic ills.
The solution to men’s problems then are to become free (clear) of engrams. This allegedly occurs in the process of auditing. Auditing consists of the person (pre-clear) holding two tin cans attached to an e-meter (electrogalvanometer) which is a crude lie detector. The auditor asks a series of standard questions supposedly uncovering these buried experiences. The goal is to eliminate the effects of the engrams by transferring them from the reactive mind to the analytical mind, which will supposedly make rational conclusions about the experience based on learned Scientology axioms.
During auditing the pre-clear is asked probing questions in order to surface all past aberrant behavior, called witholds or overts. This information is accumulated into allegedly confidential folders, called PC (pre-clear) folders. Yet there is a long history of evidence that this information is passed “upline” to Scientology leaders and have been used to control their members.
When a person is free of engrams, he is declared Clear. Scientology claims that a clear is able to deal causatively with life, and is free from the influence of past events. Scientology claims that a persons I.Q. will increase rapidly and will rarely get sick, especially no psychosomatic illness. A Clear is able to perceive, recall, imagine, create, and compute a level high above normal.
After all the work and money it takes to reach the prize of going Clear with all its promises, Scientologists learn that they must go on to the next levels or else they are in grave danger of not surviving.
Scientology posits that pursuit of survival is the common denominator of all life. Life is divided into eight dynamics. Clear only deals with the first dynamic, “the effort to survive as an individual, fully expressing one’s individuality.”
But one must then pursue survival in the remaining seven dynamics: Family and sex; groups; mankind; all life forms, the physical universe; spirituality; and infinity or Supreme Being. It is this eighth dynamic that is Scientology’s concept of God. Or as Scientology states, “The practice of Scientology is to bring one to a new state where he can reach his own conclusions concerning the nature of God or Supreme Being. Thus, like many Eastern religions, salvation in Scientology is attained through personal spiritual enlightenment.”
So in essence, Scientology teaches that man’s Thetan nature is god, being “at cause” over the MEST universe. But where did the Thetan come from and what more does one have to know about the Thetan to progress?
This is where the most bizarre and secretive elements of Scientology enters the story. Hubbard claimed to have made “the most important spiritual breakthrough in the history of the human race” while solo-auditing and research. He claims to have discovered the “incident” which had “totally overwhelmed” and contaminated everyone on this planet.44
This discovery became the OT III level, or “the wall of fire.” Hubbard and Scientology claims that anyone who learns about OT III before they have duly progressed through the prior gradients (paid courses), would catch pneumonia and die.45
Scientology’s legal attempts to suppress this embarrassing information from the public has been fierce. Fortunately the OT documents have been made public through various legal cases. In fact the effort of Scientology to make a case for these materials to be considered “trade secrets” and the claim that “commercial harm is being done,” betrays the true commercial nature of Scientology. This is also consistent with another of Hubbard’s policies, “Make money, make more money, make others produce as so as to make more money.”46

OT 3
The following description of the “secret” OT 3 material is quoted from the Los Angeles Times series whose source was the official church documents entered into evidence during the Wollersheim v. Scientology court case.
Seventy-five million years ago a tyrant named Xenu (pronounced Zee-new) ruled the Galactic Confederation, an alliance of 76 planets, including Earth, then called Teegeack.
To control overpopulation and solidify his power, Xenu instructed his loyal officers to capture beings of all shapes and sizes from the various planets, freeze them in a compound of alcohol and glycol and fly them by the billions to Earth in planes resembling DC – 8s. Some of the beings were captured after they were duped into showing up for a phony tax investigation.
The beings were deposited or chained near 10 volcanoes scattered around the planet. After hydrogen bombs were dropped on them, their thetans were captured by Xenu’s forces and implanted with sexual perversion, religion and other notions to obscure their memory of what Xenu had done.
Soon after, a revolt erupted. Xenu was imprisoned in a wire cage within a mountain, where he remains today.
But the damage was done.
During the last 75 million years these implanted thetans have affixed themselves by the thousands to people on Earth. Called “body thetans,” they overwhelm the main thetan who resides within a person, causing confusion and internal conflict.
In the Operating Thetan III course, Scientologists are taught to scan their bodies for “pressure points,” indicating the presence of these bad thetans. Using techniques prescribed by Hubbard, church members make telepathic contact with these thetans and remind them of Xenu’s treachery. With that, Hubbard said, the thetans detach themselves.47

So what the now clear Scientologist learns is that he must go through another long costly process of auditing away these other Body Thetan’s engrams which inhibit his growth and will cause future problems unless exorcised. OT 8 is currently the highest revealed level before Hubbard died, but the highest eschalon of leadership has indicated that Hubbard did complete OT 9 and 10 but its release is being held.

Scientology vs. Christianity
Scientology claims their religion “respects all religions,” and does “not conflict with other religions or religious practices.” Claiming to be compatible with Christianity and respectful of Jesus Christ, they write, “Scientologists hold the Bible as a holy work, and have no argument with the Christian belief that Jesus Christ was the Savior of Mankind and Son of God…There are probably many types of redemption. That of Christ was to heaven.”48
Scientology goes even further in saying, “there is no attempt to change a person’s beliefs or to persuade him away from any religion to which he already belongs.”49
All of this subterfuge; none of it is true. In reality, Scientology is very alien and hostile to Christianity. Hubbard’s many taped lectures, thousands of policy letters and directives, and the so-called secret or hidden teachings contained in upper level courses, provide ample evidence of Scientology’s duplicity and its true beliefs about Christianity.
Hubbard stated that there were other messiahs prior to Christ, that early Christianity is not the same as the Christianity today, that the New Testament contains legends, Judgment Day is a superstition, and finally, he repeated a typical New Age claim that Christianity is actually traced back and is subsumed in the Hindu Vedas.50
“Hell is total myth, an invention just to make people unhappy and is a vicious lie”.51
“Religion…being basically a control mechanism used by those who have sent the preclear into a body. You will find the cross as a symbol all over the universe, and the Christ legend as a n implant [a false concept designed to overpower and control] in preclears millions of years ago.”52
In Scientology’s Class 8 course, lecture 10, (3 October 1968) Hubbard taught, “Somebody somewhere on this planet, back about 600 BC found some pieces of R6 [a suppressive implant], and I don’t know how they found it, either by watching madman or something. But since that time they have used it and it became what is known as Christianity. The man on the cross. There was no Christ.”53
“Also the Christian church used (and uses) implanting…They took over the Nicene Creed before the year zero, in invented Christ (who comes from the crucifixion in R6 75M years ago, and implanted their way to power.”54
Hubbard claimed…Yes, I’ve been to Heaven. And so have you. You have the pattern of it implants…The Symbol of the crucified Christ is very apt indeed. It’s the symbol of the thetan betrayed…The place [heaven] is so full of lies by implant that the preclear becomes quite confused…[somebody] discovered…and utilized them to install religious mania and pin thetans down to ‘one life’ and planets.”55
Antithetical to Christianity, and to reality, is the Scientology belief in past lives or reincarnation. Hubbard clearly identifies with and teaches the concept of reincarnation. Scientology teaches that man’s spirit, or thetan, continues to enter into other bodies after each body dies.56

The Heinous “Policies”
Many of the scandals, investigations and convictions that have plagued Scientology have resulted from actions taken under the authority of Hubbard’s personal directives contained in HCO Policy Letters. These are regarded as “scripture” by Scientology. They were given to direct Scientology policy, and were not to be changed or abrogated except by Hubbard himself.
Scientology has a policy defining an enemy or critic of the church as a “Suppressive Person” or “SP”. Hubbard wrote, “A Suppressive Person or Group is one that actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by Suppressive Acts…A Suppressive Person or Group becomes ‘fair game.'”57
According to the “fair game” policy, anyone so regarded “May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, lied to or destroyed.”58
When this “fair game” policy became public is caused, and is causing many problems for Scientology. Scientology attempts to deny its continuation by claiming Hubbard canceled this order one year later. But HCO Policy Letter of October 21, 1968, only says that “the practice of declaring people fair game will cease…It causes bad public relations” (emphasis added). It specifically “does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP.”59
Obviously the concern of this so-called cancellation was not about abuses committed, but over public image. And it only means that formal declarations naming people as “fair game” will cease. However, one may still be condemned as a Suppressive Person. And as all Suppressive Persons are, ipsofacto, fair game, and no formal statement of their being fair game is needed. A number of subsequent court cases and many personal testimonies indicate this terroristic policy continues. In California, The Daily Appellate Report shows the Court found that , “despite the Church’s public rejection of the fair game practice, it continued to use fair game against targeted ex-Scientologist throughout the 1970’s.”60
In the HCO Bulletin of August 27, 1987, Scientology reprinted an earlier Hubbard article which dealt with “Critics of Scientology.”
“We do not find critics of Scientology who do not have criminal pasts. Over and over we prove this…Never discuss Scientology with a critic. Just discuss his or her crimes…”
In a similar policy, “Attacks on Scientology,” Hubbard wrote, “Never agree to an investigation of Scientology. Only agree to an investigation of the attackers…Start feeding lurid, blood, sex, crime, actual evidence on the attacker to the press…make it rough, rough, on attackers all the way.”61
The Washington Post printed a story “Scientology Fiction: The Church’s War Against It’s Critics – and Truth.” In it they quoted several other scientology governing policy directives such as “Harass these persons in any possible way…They are declared enemies of mankind, the planet and all life. They are fair game [according to a 1968 “Ethics Order” on SPs]…Never treat a war like a skirmish. Treat all skirmishes like wars.”62
Consider some of Hubbard’s requirements in the Code of Honor for all Scientologists; “Never withdraw an allegiance once granted; Never fear to hurt another in a just cause.”
And notably, Hubbard wrote a directive/policy concerning Scientology’s strategy on dealing with governments in the cause of advancing Scientology which probably has something to do with the refusal of so many European governments to grant Scientology a protected religion status.
Hubbard’s HCO Policy Letter of August 15, 1960, titled “Department of Government Affairs.” The policy states “The object of the Department is to broaden the impact of Scientology upon governments and other organizations and is to conduct itself so as to make the name and reputation of Scientology better and more forceful. Therefore, defensive tactics are frowned upon…only attacks resolve threats”
“In the face of danger from governments or courts there are only two errors one can make: (a) do nothing and (b) defend.” The policy directs Scientologists to “Make enough threat or clamor to cause the enemy to quail…Make every attack by us also sell Scientology…win. If attacked on some vulnerable point by anyone or anything or any organizations, always find or manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace…Always attack.”
The policy includes a totalitarian statement that should cause any government concern: “The goal of the Department is to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the church is a threat to democracy.”63

Hubbard and the Occult
The above gives adequate evidence of the anti-Christian, totalitarian, and simister nature of Scientology. But there’s more. Hubbard biographer and former Scientologist Jon Atack significantly demonstrated the evidence of Hubbard’s involvement in the occult in his book A Piece of Blue Sky.
Revealing the contents of Hubbard’s letters and personal archives entered in the Church of Scientology v. Armstrong trial, Atack demonstrated Hubbard’s direct connections and involvement in black magic and occult practices, especially during 1945-1946. These facts were also covered by Hubbard biographers Russell Miller in Bare-Faced Messiah and Corydon and Hubbard, Jr. in L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?
Because of Hubbard’s fascination and study of renown occultist Alister Crowley, Atack concludes that, “It is impossible to arrive at an understanding of Scientology without taking into account its creator’s extensive involvement with magic.”64

Scientology’s Concentration Camps
As if often the case, Scientology is usually guilty of what they accuse others. For example Scientology attempts to compare its critics to Nazi’s who persecuted the Jews. Scientology would do well not to make parallels to Nazism an issue. This is because of Scientology’s maintenance of a concentration camp-like operation which they call Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF).
RPF was created to deal with Sea Org. staff members in Scientology who had a “counter-intention” to Hubbard’s orders or policies, as well as any troublemakers or backsliders.
Dr. Stephen Kent, with his massive collection of research presented a paper to the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion on November 7, 1997. In it he revealed from Scientology’s own internal documents and many personal testimonials that Hubbard’s instructions “laid out the framework of forcible confinement, physical and social maltreatment, intensive re-indoctrination, and forced confessions that were (and are) central to the program’s operation.” He also documents the existence of a children and teens RPF as well as an even more cruel RPF’s RPF.65

Scientology Front Groups
Before the 1993 I.R.S. decision grunting tax-exempt status to Scientology and 114 of its subsidiary organizations, Scientology often denied its connection to what in essence served as many front groups designed to channel people into Scientology through indirect means.
The major exposé run by the Los Angeles Times in 1990 revealed this about these organizations, “Emerging from years of internal strife and public scandal, the Scientology movement has embarked on a sweeping and sophisticated campaign to gain influence in America…the church hopes to broaden the acceptability of Hubbard’s Scientology teachings and attract millions of new members.”66
These front groups seek to disseminate Hubbard’s “tech” into various areas of culture and thus increase the effect of Scientology and its recruitment.
Some of the more visible ones are:
1. Narconon, as so-called drug rehab program.
2. Applied Scholastics, programs for schools.
3. The Way to Happiness Campaign and booklet, normally a program for schools and communities.
4. Set a Good Example Contest, for youth
5. WISE (Worldwide Institute of Scientology Enterprises), an assortment of businesses run by Scientologists and practice management companies.
6. Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a group concentrating on criticizing psychiatry and psychology and to condemn the use of Ritalin and Prozac.
7. Consulting Firms, many companies variously named who press especially upon medically related offices offering “practice management” program using Hubbard “tech”.
8. Cult Awareness Network, formerly a legitimate organization that provided good information and assistance for families and friends of cult victims, but now after 51 lawsuits were bankrupted and taken over by Scientology.

Responding to a Scientologist
Scientology promises to “always deliver” and provide the “bridge to total freedom.” Yet what it delivers are the shackles of bondage, lies, and ultimately eternal separation from the God it denies.
Scientology’s attempt to elevate the status and messages of L. Ron Hubbard are built upon lies, deception, treachery and blasphemy. This is contrasted with the historical reliability of the life and message of Jesus Christ – God the Son who delivers the way; the truth, and the life.